{DIARY OF AN ITINERANT CHEF}

We've survived winter, which I do love, but to celebrate the last official week of the season, I'd like to share a glorious taste of last summer in Paris.

You could have filled your basket with these beauties one morning at Joël Thiébault's. You should know by now that Joël supplies fruits, herbs, and vegetables to some of the city's greatest chefs. But long before chefs discovered him, his family was renown in their own region for their produce - since the Middle Ages in fact. Joël still works the same land just seven kilometers northwest of the Eiffel Tower. His great-grandparents were amongst the first vendors at the then-new market near the Seine when it was established in 1873 - they watched construction start across the river on the Tower 14 years later.

Joël grows roughly 2,000 varieties of edible flora, but he's most enamoured with légumes retrouvés - rediscovered vegetables. Some he finds himself, others he's asked to seek out by chefs, striving for the new by cultivating the past.

Joël also supplies a weekly market basket home delivery service through Le Haut du Panier. They now also offer cheese from Philippe Alléosse and bread from the elusive Jean-Luc Poujauran himself.

But even if you visit Paris without a kitchen, stop by Joël's - there's bound to be something you can savour in its natural state. My mouth waters remembering the flavor of succulent tomatoes seasoned with nothing more than the aroma of fragrant verveine.